AJ24094 Crime and Punishment in Victorian Fiction

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2011
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Bonita Rhoads (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Timetable
each even Thursday 12:30–14:05 G23
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 9 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives (in Czech)
This course explores the Victorians’ literary obsession with themes of crime and punishment. Fictional works include Lord Byron’s ballads on the criminal anti-hero, the Victorian novel’s repeated portrayals of convicts and crooks, and the detective genre, invented by Poe and then developed by Dickens, Collins and Doyle. Non-fiction readings include the popular criminal biographies published in the Newgate Prison Calendar and the sensational tabloid accounts of the Whiteside Chapel murders (“Jack-the-Ripper”). To provide a context, we will also study a social history of the period, detailing the nineteenth-century formation of the modern police force (Scotland Yard) and the modern prison. And, throughout the term, we will consult a range of criticism on this rich topic (Ellis, Foucault, Miller, Moretti, Showalter).
Syllabus (in Czech)
  • 1) Introduction: The Romantic (Pre-Victorian) Criminal “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” “Corsair” – Lord Byron, 1812-1818 “On Murder, Considered as One of the Fine Arts” – Thomas De Quincey, 1827 2) Oliver Twist (chapters 1-25) – Charles Dickens, 1837 Newgate Prison Calendar (selections), 1750-1850 *“The Novel and the Police,” The Novel and the Police – D. A. Miller *“Organizing Crime: Character and Conduct in Oliver Twist,” The Crime in Mind – Lisa Rodensky No course meeting—reading response 1 due on-line 3) Oliver Twist (chapters 38-51) – Charles Dickens, 1837 Going to See a Man Hanged – William Makepeace Thackeray, 1840 *“Why Thackeray Went to See a Man Hanged” – Albert Borowitz *The Oxford History of the Prison (selections) *“The Gentle Way in Punishment,” Discipline and Punish – Michel Foucault 4) “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” Edgar Allan Poe, 1841 “The Mystery of Marie Roget,” Edgar Allan Poe, 1842 “The Purloined Letter,” Edgar Allan Poe, 1844 *“The Origins of the Detective Novel” – Richard Alewin *“Literature Under the Table: The Detective Novel and its Social Mission” – Ernst Kaemmel *Detective Fiction and Literature: The Figure on the Carpet (selection) – Martin Priestman *“The Unequal Voice in ‘The Murders in the Rue Morge,’” Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science – Ronald. R. Thomas No course meeting—reading response 2 due on-line 5) The Sign of the Four, Arthur Conan Doyle, 1890 “A Case of Identity,” Arthur Conan Doyle, 1891 “A Scandal in Bohemia,” Arthur Conan Doyle, 1891 *“Clues,” Signs Taken for Wonders – Franco Moretti *“The Criminal Type in ‘A Case of Identity,’” “Negative Images in ‘A Scandal in Bohemia,’” Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science – Ronald. R. Thomas 6) The Woman in White (beginning to second epoch, chap. VIII) – Wilkie Collins, 1859 *“Cage aux folles: Sensation and Gender in Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White” – D. A. Miller No course meeting—reading response 3 due on-line 7) The Woman in White (from second epoch, chap. X to end) – Wilkie Collins, 1859 *“The Letter of the Law in The Woman in White,” Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science – Ronald. R. Thomas 8) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson, 1886 *The Criminal (selections) – Havelock Ellis *“Dr. Jekyll’s Closet,” Sexual Anarchy – Elaine Showalter No course meeting—reading response 4 due on-line 9) Tabloid accounts of the White Chapel Murders, 1888 *“Jack the Ripper,” City of Dreadful Delight – Judith R. Walkowitz *“The Woman’s Case,” Sexual Anarchy, Elaine Showalter 10) Dracula (chapters 1-14) – Bram Stoker, 1897 *“Dialectic of Fear,” Signs Taken for Wonders – Franco Moretti *“Lombroso’s Criminal Man and Stoker’s Dracula” – Jan B. Gordon No course meeting—reading response 5 due on-line 11) Dracula (chapters 15-27) – Bram Stoker, 1897 *“Vampirism and the Degeneration of the Imperial Race” – Monika Tomaszewska
Literature
  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson, 978-0141439730
  • Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens, 978-1402754258
  • Dracula, Bram Stoker, 978-1612930480
  • The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins, 978-1613821398
  • The Sign of the Four, Arthur Conan Doyle, 978-1420925647
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Assessment: Regular attendance and participation in discussion 10%. 4 brief on-line reading responses (worth 5% each for 20% of your final grade), which you will submit to the class site on 4 out of the 5 weeks when we have no class meeting. Final Essay 70%. Attendance is important since we have only 6 class meetings. For each class meeting, you should be prepared to discuss the reading. On-line reading responses should be kept to a couple of thoughtful paragraphs; please point out issues and raises questions in relation to the reading or outline connections between the critical reading and the literature. Final essays should be 12-15 pages double-spaced in MLA format.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2013.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2011, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2011/AJ24094